School
“Who wrote this a report? A first grader?”
Passive Aggressive Communication
Your friend is trying to get you to sneak out of the house but it makes you uncomfortable.
No, I'm just not comfortable with that and I don't want to get in trouble.
"You never do anything right!"
“It really doesn’t matter that much.”
Passive communication
You notice a classmate keeps looking at your answers despite trying to move your papers out of sight.
You need to stop looking at my answers or I am going to have to say something to the teacher.
"You owe me."
Aggressive communication
You feel like the chores are not evenly split between siblings.
Your friend Sam is criticizing your other friend Ellie in front of you, after Ellie left the room.
You are working with a partner in class and don't like the idea your partner came up with.
Instead of saying: "That's a stupid idea," try: "I don't really like that idea."
You really wanted pizza for dinner but when your friends asked where you wanted to eat you said "I don't care" in case they didn't want that.
Passive communication
Your mom is often critical of your weight and makes a comment about you eating dessert. "Do you need that?"
“I think you say these comments because you’re trying to help me but they have the opposite effect.”
You are waiting to pay for some shopping but the two sales assistants at the register are deep in conversation and appear to be ignoring you.
"Excuse me, I'm ready to check out please."
You did poorly on a quiz because you didn't understand the material.
Hey [insert teacher name], is there a good time for you to go over what I missed, so I can understand it better before the test?
You have a tendency to over-apologize. "Oh, I’m sorry I was standing here, you bumped into me, and that I spilled my coffee over my new outfit."
"Excuse me."
"I don't mean to be rude, but can you stop being so annoying?"
Passive aggressive communication
I just set up a meeting for tomorrow at 5 and I need you to attend. (You have a prior commitment and cannot attend the meeting but are worried about telling your boss no.)
“I am unable to meet at that time. Can you provide me with a few alternative times?”
A teacher snaps at you and another group of students to stop talking in class, even though you weren't the one talking.
Let it slide it's a one time thing. If it happens multiple times, have a conversation with the teacher outside of class time.
Your friend is always telling you what to do and never listening to your ideas.
Hey, sometimes it feels like we always have to do what you want and you don't take my opinion into account.
Your sibling is trying to start an argument at Thanksgiving, deescalate it assertively.
“I see you’d like to talk about some things, but this isn't the best time. We’re not here to argue, we’re here to have a good time”.
Your employer expects you to take on extra work but your existing workload is already very heavy.
I'm swamped right now with work, I don't know that I can take on anything extra right now. .